The image on the far left (from Wikipedia's article "Antibiotic Resistance") shows a simplified example of how resistance levels can build up over time. The bottom two images are vinegar and baking soda, two safe to use home products that do not contribute to antibiotic resistance. The top right photo is of antibacterial soap, a leading cause in the build up of resistance in bacteria, and a decrease in the resilience of the human immune system. The top center photo is a cartoon showing a superbug resistant to antibiotics attacking Uncle Sam, who would appear to have been taking in antibiotics in every form at his home.
Linking to my previous Matrix Presentation, an additional sustainability concern of the overuse of commercial cleaners filled with harsh chemicals, is the rising trend of antibacterial cleaning products. Antibacterial soaps and products were developed for use in sterile environments, such as in hospitals, where a patients immune system may not be able to defend itself due to illness. This idea that antibiotics made things safer and healthier to deal with, spread the use to food preparation factories and restaurants. From there, the idea of antibacterial products spread into the residential areas, as home cleaning products were advertised as better then their competitors for killing off 99.99% of bacteria with their antibacterial additives. Now we see almost every household product has the antibacterial label on it, dispensers filled with antibacterial soap are lining the hallways of every institution, and antibacterial additives are even being added to our foods.
The increase in antibacterial use in a health home has lead to an arms race against the dangerous bacteria that survive the hellish antibacterial soaps and cleansers. These multidrug-resistant bacteria have lead to increasing risks at hospitals, where they are seeing patients ding with cases of untreatable bacterial infections. Example pathogens that have grown dangerously resistant to antibacterials and antibiotics are Staphylococcus Aureus, Streptococcus and Enterococcus, Pseudomonas Aeruginosa, Clostridium Difficile, and Salmonella and E.Coli. [1] With the increasing strength of bacteria, stronger and stronger antibacterial products are produced for hospitals to safely treat patients, but often the products they use are commercially available to the average household. The homeowners that then buy these products to feel safe and clean in their own home end up adding to the problem as the healthy individuals kill off their bodies' natural defenses to bacteria, including other bacteria[2]. With a growing paranoia of these new "superbugs", the end result is that more and more people are switching to antibacterial products either with a faulty assumption of it being their only line of defense, or simply fear of it already being to late to turn back.
Even with this growing concern among the public over the rising dangers of superbugs, the CDC still insists that antibacterial soaps are not necessary, and that washing your hands with ordinary soap and warm water is enough to kill off any dangers of bacterial infection. Several other alternatives to antibacterial cleaning supplies exist, with the main ingredients being vinegar as an "antibacterial" of a much lesser severity [3] (and thus much less of an influence to the creation of superbugs), and baking soda as a stain and soil remover.[4] [5] With these alternatives available, we as homeowners and consumers have the responsibility to slow down the arms race and let hospitals handle the large scale disinfection, and let our bodies natural defenses do what they have always done, which is to build up a healthy immune system to fight off dangerous bacteria, while living in synergy with the common benign bacteria that exist naturally on our bodies.
Sources:
[1] Wikipedia's Article on Antibiotic Resistance, 2011, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antibiotic_resistance. This resource was used as an introductory into the topic and an overview of the issue, the main sources of the article were checked as well, and can be found cited on the Wikipedia page.
[5] Hard Surface Cleaning Performance of Six Alternative Household Cleaners Under Laboratory Conditions, by Wanda Olson, Donald Vesley, Marilyn Bode, Polly Dubbel, and Theresa Bauer, in Journal of Environmental Health, 1994 http://www.aciscience.org/docs/alternative_hard_surface_cleaners.pdf
The image on the far left (from Wikipedia's article "Antibiotic Resistance") shows a simplified example of how resistance levels can build up over time. The bottom two images are vinegar and baking soda, two safe to use home products that do not contribute to antibiotic resistance. The top right photo is of antibacterial soap, a leading cause in the build up of resistance in bacteria, and a decrease in the resilience of the human immune system. The top center photo is a cartoon showing a superbug resistant to antibiotics attacking Uncle Sam, who would appear to have been taking in antibiotics in every form at his home.
Linking to my previous Matrix Presentation, an additional sustainability concern of the overuse of commercial cleaners filled with harsh chemicals, is the rising trend of antibacterial cleaning products. Antibacterial soaps and products were developed for use in sterile environments, such as in hospitals, where a patients immune system may not be able to defend itself due to illness. This idea that antibiotics made things safer and healthier to deal with, spread the use to food preparation factories and restaurants. From there, the idea of antibacterial products spread into the residential areas, as home cleaning products were advertised as better then their competitors for killing off 99.99% of bacteria with their antibacterial additives. Now we see almost every household product has the antibacterial label on it, dispensers filled with antibacterial soap are lining the hallways of every institution, and antibacterial additives are even being added to our foods.
The increase in antibacterial use in a health home has lead to an arms race against the dangerous bacteria that survive the hellish antibacterial soaps and cleansers. These multidrug-resistant bacteria have lead to increasing risks at hospitals, where they are seeing patients ding with cases of untreatable bacterial infections. Example pathogens that have grown dangerously resistant to antibacterials and antibiotics are Staphylococcus Aureus, Streptococcus and Enterococcus, Pseudomonas Aeruginosa, Clostridium Difficile, and Salmonella and E.Coli. [1] With the increasing strength of bacteria, stronger and stronger antibacterial products are produced for hospitals to safely treat patients, but often the products they use are commercially available to the average household. The homeowners that then buy these products to feel safe and clean in their own home end up adding to the problem as the healthy individuals kill off their bodies' natural defenses to bacteria, including other bacteria[2]. With a growing paranoia of these new "superbugs", the end result is that more and more people are switching to antibacterial products either with a faulty assumption of it being their only line of defense, or simply fear of it already being to late to turn back.
Even with this growing concern among the public over the rising dangers of superbugs, the CDC still insists that antibacterial soaps are not necessary, and that washing your hands with ordinary soap and warm water is enough to kill off any dangers of bacterial infection. Several other alternatives to antibacterial cleaning supplies exist, with the main ingredients being vinegar as an "antibacterial" of a much lesser severity [3] (and thus much less of an influence to the creation of superbugs), and baking soda as a stain and soil remover.[4] [5] With these alternatives available, we as homeowners and consumers have the responsibility to slow down the arms race and let hospitals handle the large scale disinfection, and let our bodies natural defenses do what they have always done, which is to build up a healthy immune system to fight off dangerous bacteria, while living in synergy with the common benign bacteria that exist naturally on our bodies.
Sources:
[1] Wikipedia's Article on Antibiotic Resistance, 2011, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antibiotic_resistance.
This resource was used as an introductory into the topic and an overview of the issue, the main sources of the article were checked as well, and can be found cited on the Wikipedia page.
[2]Is antibacterial soap any better than regular soap?, 01 August 2001. HowStuffWorks.com. <http://health.howstuffworks.com/skin-care/cleansing/myths/question692.htm> 13 December 2011.
[3] Vinegar for Cleaning All Parts of the House, by admin, 11/6/2011, How to Remove a Stain, http://www.howtoremoveastain.com/vinegar-cleaning-parts-house/
[4] Cleaning with Baking Soda, by Puja Lalwani of Buzzle.com, 2/20/2010,
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/cleaning-with-baking-soda.html
[5] Hard Surface Cleaning Performance of Six Alternative Household Cleaners Under Laboratory Conditions, by Wanda Olson, Donald Vesley, Marilyn Bode, Polly Dubbel, and Theresa Bauer, in Journal of Environmental Health, 1994
http://www.aciscience.org/docs/alternative_hard_surface_cleaners.pdf
[6] Antibacterial Household Products: Cause for Concern, by Stuart B. Levy, of Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, in Emerging Infectious Diseases, June 2001, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2631814/pdf/11485643.pdf
Images:
[7] A Voice for the Mistreated, Tuesday, April 26, 2011,
http://helpingthemistreated.blogspot.com/2011/04/possible-antibiotic-resistant-bacteria.html